Brian Alexander, a 63-year-old real estate developer, shot a 67 in his best round ever at the Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam.
Lydia Ko, a 15-year-old Grade 11 student from New Zealand, fired the same score on the same course on Sunday.
The difference between the two - apart from their 48-year age gap - was that with her 67, Ko captured the 2012 CN Canadian Women's Open golf championship.
As for Alexander, he carried her bag and pointed her in the right direction, when needed.
The bubbly, bespectacled Ko would have collected the top prize of $300,000 U.S. had she not been an amateur and Alexander would have pocketed $30,000 of that as the winning caddy typically receives 10%.
Instead, Alexander, a Burnaby resident and VGC member for 10 years, went home without cash but rich with elation and pride for having been a part of women's golf history.
By beating a field of LPGA pros that featured 48 of the top 50 players in the world, Ko became the first amateur since 1969 to win the Open and the youngest ever to win an LPGA Tour event - she'll even have her golf glove encased in the World Golf Hall of Fame in Florida.
Alexander, on the other hand, got a free dinner and glass of wine courtesy of Ko's mother, Tina, at West Vancouver's Hollyburn Country Club on Sunday night.
"I played sports all my life with no notoriety whatsoever," the affable Alexander told The Tri-City News. "I caddy once and look what happens.
"It was utterly delightful... fantastic."
Alexander volunteered his services to Ko on the recommendation of Scott Rodgers, a teaching pro at Meadow Gardens Golf Club in Pitt Meadows who worked with the youngster leading up to the tournament. Rodgers, a one-time assistant pro at VGC, recommended Alexander carry Ko's bag and magic ensued on the Coquitlam links.
Ko's five-under-par 67 Sunday gave her a three-shot victory over another South Korea native, Inbee Park, who bagged the $300,000 first-place prize despite placing second.
"Brian was confident about his reads, it made it more simple for me," Ko said during a media session afterwards. "[We] got a really good bond and I guess this will be good memories from this week."
Alexander was as much the object of the rampant applause from the packed VGC gallery on the 18th finishing hole as was Ko.
"Those last two holes, I wanted to go forever," Alexander said. "After Lydia hit the fairway on 16, I knew we were in good shape. There was no pressure after that. It was just phenomenal."
Phenomenal, just like Ko's game for four straight rounds, including the final one, in which nerves never entered her picture.
"She shot 67, which is my best round, too, strangely," Alexander said. "The difference is, I played the course a thousand times and she's played it four.
"She [drives] the ball about 250 [yards], sometimes 270, but the length didn't impress me so much as her accuracy, which was phenomenal. She made some short putts that were quite tricky and that other players were sometimes running six or eight feet past the hole, the greens were that tough. And she didn't just slide them into the corner [of the cup], she slammed them in the back."
Alexander is certain the women's golf world has hardly heard the last of Ko.
"I have no doubt she'll be there again if she continues on playing but this was a once-in-a-lifetime deal for me," he said. "It's something I'll cherish forever."
